HEPN Expo

HEPN North 2023

16th - 17th March, Hilton Deansgate, Manchester

  • Day 1
  • Day 2

16 March 2023

  • 8:00 am - 8:55 am

    Main Room

    Registration

  • 8:55 am - 9:05 am

    Main Room

    Chair's Opening Remarks

    Mark Wantling

    Chief Information Officer
    University of Salford

    Welcome to the Higher Education Partnership Network (HEPN), where I’ll be your host. Networking events such as HEPN provide an opportunity for universities to come together to address national and global challenges and to share best...

  • 9:05 am - 9:45 am

    Main Room

    Panel Discussion: How digital can support the needs of the university

    Mark Wantling

    Chief Information Officer
    University of Salford

    Nigel Buckland

    Director of IT Services
    Leeds Beckett University

    Prof. Kamil Omoteso

    Pro-Vice Chancellor
    University of Derby

    Anna Sheldrake

    Director of Digital
    University of Suffolk

    Simon Corbett

    Director of IT
    Northumbria University

    Universities have a number of corporate objectives, alongside a desire to create an engaging learning experience for students whether they are on-campus, remote, or internationally located. What does a modernised digital strategy that...

  • 9:50 am - 10:10 am

    Main Room

    Headline Presentation - Google: Fireside chat: In conversation with Adam Stewart

    Adam Stewart

    Head of Public Sector, UKI
    Google Cloud

    With a career spanning 19+ years, Adam Stewart has experience in partnering with education and government projects to improve efficiency, reduce complexity and enable public sector organisations to build for a digital future. Joined by J...

  • 10:10 am - 10:40 am

    Main Room

    Dragon's Den Speed Presentations

    Our signature ‘Dragons’ Den’ session provides each solution provider with an opportunity to deliver a short pitch, explaining why they are here and how their services can help tackle some of the sector’s ongoing challenges.

    ...
  • 10:45 am - 12:00 pm

    Main Room

    Coffee Break and Business Meetings

    15 minute meetings with suppliers who are offering solutions most relevant to your challenges. Please check the schedule on the back of your delegate pass for your meeting timings.

  • 12:05 pm - 12:25 pm

    Main Room

    Proving Value For Money

    Dr. Tom Williamson

    Assistant Principal
    ARU Peterborough

    Given increasing pressures, it’s becoming even more crucial to prove the value for money that universities can offer. Are we adding value to the economy? Are we adding value to the employment market? Are we satisfying our social respon...

  • 12:30 pm - 12:50 pm

    Main Room

    There really are more than 8 hours in the working day....with a digital workforce

    Mark Lockett

    Public Sector, Director
    SS&C Blue Prism

    Explore how universities are adopting Intelligent Automation (IA) to increase capacity and deliver service improvement across a wide variety of functions, from student admissions to back office finance and HR. In a changing environment, ...

  • 12:55 pm - 1:15 pm

    Main Room

    Digital collaboration in the 21st century

    Prof. Mohammed Dastbaz

    Deputy Vice Chancellor
    University of Suffolk

    The University of Suffolk have a unique partnership with BT at Adastral Park, which is home to BT’s innovation labs and Innovation Martlesham. Here, they have built a £10m, state-of-the-art campus that has allowed their students to co...

  • 1:15 pm - 1:55 pm

    Main Room

    Networking Lunch

    An opportunity to connect with your peers and suppliers to talk over the learnings from the event. Lunch is served buffet style and a range of options are available to cater for different dietary requirements.

  • 2:00 pm - 2:20 pm

    Main Room

    Be Free to Innovate and Deliver Value

    Nick Gibson

    Head of Education & Research UK&I
    NTT Data

    There is a wind of change blowing through the higher education sector and with staff being at a premium, more institutions are looking to outsource the dull jobs in order to allow their valuable resources to concentrate on value add and ...

  • 2:25 pm - 2:45 pm

    Main Room

    How world challenges are impacting our staff and students

    Libby Homer

    Director of Students and Library Services
    Anglia Ruskin University

    Inflation, pay, the cost of living, heavy workloads, and wellbeing challenges are affecting our students and staff. This, alongside continuous regulatory and political change, are contributing to a fall in continuation rates. How can we ...

  • 2:50 pm - 3:10 pm

    Main Room

    Bridging the Gap Between Planning and Outcome Delivery for Universities

    Alexander McNeill

    Finance Strategy and Transformation Director
    Inoapps and Oracle

    Jennifer Tavano- Gallacher

    Higher Education Industry Lead
    Inoapps and Oracle

    This presentation will explore how Connected Planning, brings together often disparate business planning processes, to create a single end-to-end approach; from strategic planning/spending review through to delivery and performance manag...

  • 3:15 pm - 4:30 pm

    Main Room

    Coffee Break and Business Meetings

    15 minute meetings with suppliers who are offering solutions most relevant to your challenges. Please check the schedule on the back of your delegate pass for your meeting timings.

  • 4:35 pm - 5:15 pm

    Main Room

    Panel Discussion: Defining the purpose of universities

    Mark Wantling

    Chief Information Officer
    University of Salford

    Sir Timothy O’Shea

    Emeritus Professor of Digital Education and former Principal & Vice Chancellor
    University of Edinburgh

    Jo Purves

    Pro-Vice Chancellor, Academic Development
    University of Salford

    Prof. Letizia Gramaglia

    Head of Academic Development & Director of the Warwick International Higher Education Academy
    University of Warwick

    Libby Homer

    Director of Students and Library Services
    Anglia Ruskin University

    There are a variety of views of what purpose a university serves from students, regulators, government, stakeholders, staff, and society as a whole. Are we here to provide a degree, or to provide skills for future employment? Where does ...

  • 5:20 pm - 5:40 pm

    Main Room

    The importance of a cloud native target operating model!

    Kieran Fitzgerald

    Head of SAP Services
    SoftwareOne

    Akan Ozbuluter

    UK Commercial Director
    TimeEdit

    At the heart of your digital transformation, your people, the processes and technology that served you so well in the past must also change to enable you to harness the cloud native technologies and achieve your goals. This requires a ne...

  • 5:45 pm - 6:05 pm

    Main Room

    Delivering belonging and equity for students in higher education

    Prof. Ebrahim Adia

    Pro-Vice Chancellor
    University of Central Lancashire

    How can we ensure that all our students feel a sense of belonging to their institutions? Prof. Ebrahim How can we deliver greater equity for students?

  • 6:05 pm - 7:30 pm

    Main Room

    Hotel Check-in/Free Time

    Overlooking the Manchester metropolis, the 23-story Hilton Deansgate hotel is in the heart of the city center. Manchester Arena and Piccadilly Station are a mile away and we are surrounded by museums, shops and restaurants. Wake up to fl...

  • 7:30 pm - 10:00 pm

    Main Room

    Drinks Reception & Networking Dinner

    Sponsored by

    Google for Education

    Networking sessions – throughout the event we host a networking lunch as well as a dinner and drinks reception to give you ample opportunity to connect with your peers and suppliers over the learnings from the event. Dinner is served i...

  • 12:30 pm - 12:50 pm

    Breakout Room 1

    Improve student retention through combatting loneliness and building belonging

    Georgia Wheadon

    Founder
    Umii

    Umii’s Founder, Georgia Wheadon, will discuss how loneliness and a lack of belonging can impact the lives of students and their success at university. Through her own experience, Georgia and the Umii team have dedicated their work to s...

  • 12:55 pm - 1:15 pm

    Breakout Room 1

    Are we making the most of RPA?

    Rob Blagden

    Director of Libraries, Technology & Information
    University of Gloucestershire

    There are many repetitive and mundane tasks that staff within our institutions are having to manage currently, which means that we aren’t currently getting the best out of our workforces. What efficiency gains could we create by introd...

  • 2:25 pm - 2:45 pm

    Breakout Room 1

    Digital First employability

    Jennifer Moorby

    Head of Student and Graduate Employability
    Manchester Metropolitan University

    Hear how Manchester Met’s Digital First approach is improving student employability, improving engagement, making services scalable, and myth busting the digital skills students need.

  • 5:20 pm - 5:40 pm

    Breakout Room 1

    Maximising operational efficiencies through your university timetable

    Matt Dalton

    UK Commercial Director
    TimeEdit

    Unlock the power of timetabling software to help save money, time, and optimise operations. Software can enable the smart scheduling of classes, rooms, and teachers, as well as manage temperature, ventilation, and air conditioning for ed...

  • 12:55 pm - 1:15 pm

    Breakout Room 2

    Employability skills for the future

    Katrina Armstrong

    Employability Lead
    Cranfield University

    AI is impacting the types of roles available, but you can’t teach robots soft skills! Hear how Cranfield University is preparing its students through the Digital Credentials scheme, enhancing their employability skills, and making them...

Register Now

HEPN North 2023

16th - 17th March, Hilton Deansgate, Manchester